Lion King Joke Lands Lebo M With US$39,560 Legal Bill In Dispute With Learnmore Jonasi
South African composer and The Lion King producer Lebohang “Lebo M” Morake has been ordered to pay Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi US$39,560 in legal fees.
The award follows a court battle between Morake and Jonasi over a joke involving the famous Zulu chant featured in The Lion King.
The amount, equivalent to roughly R640,000, was awarded by a United States federal court under California’s anti-SLAPP law.
Dispute began with a comedy joke
The legal fight followed comments Jonasi made while appearing on a podcast.
During the appearance, the Zimbabwean comedian gave a humorous interpretation of the well-known opening line, “Nants’ ingonyama bagithi Baba”.
Rather than using the traditional interpretation, Jonasi jokingly translated the phrase as:
“Look, there’s a lion. Oh my God.”
The joke later attracted Morake’s attention and resulted in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in California.
Morake accused Jonasi of defamation and misrepresentation.
The composer argued that the comedian’s comments trivialised a culturally significant piece associated with The Lion King.
Morake eventually dropped his claims
The dispute did not proceed to a final ruling on Morake’s original allegations.
Morake ultimately abandoned the claims against Jonasi.
Jonasi subsequently asked the court to award him legal costs under California’s anti-SLAPP legislation.
The law provides protection for speech and other forms of expression involving matters of public interest.
Jonasi argued that he was entitled to recover his legal expenses after successfully establishing that he was the prevailing party.
Court rejects request for higher award
The court agreed that Jonasi qualified as the prevailing party for purposes of the anti-SLAPP proceedings.
It calculated the reasonable value of the legal services provided to Jonasi at US$39,560.
However, the court rejected a request for an additional multiplier that would have increased the final amount.
The ruling means the award is based on the reasonable value of the legal work carried out during the case.
Interestingly, Jonasi had reportedly spent only about US$5,350 of his own money on his lawyers.
His legal team significantly reduced its fees while defending his First Amendment rights.
The court nevertheless used the reasonable value of the services, rather than Jonasi’s actual out-of-pocket expenditure, when calculating the statutory award.
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